The present disclosure relates to a seal for a turbine engine component, such as a turbine blade.
Current turbine blade technology involves creating dampers which do not significantly change their shape when a turbine engine is brought up to speed. The seals associated with the dampers are manually trapped into position as the engine is being assembled.
There are some disadvantages associated with the current blade seal technology. For example, special tooling is required if it is necessary to bend the seal such that it wraps around another part in order to keep itself in position. This special tooling could leave tool marks on the part. Any such tool marks potentially create high areas of stress that could cause the part to fail while the engine is running. Also, assembling the parts in this manner could prohibit the seal from finding its proper position and thereby compromise the sealing function. Still another issue has to do with the relatively small size of these parts. Repetitive handling and working of the parts could lead to ergonomic issues.
In prior configurations, the seal for the turbine blade was designed such that it leaned against the blade aft buttress in order to keep it in place. However, the center of gravity of this position caused high cycle fatigue issues and a tab associated with the seal either stayed where it was designed, fold up under the damper, or vibrate itself so much that it would break off and liberate itself into the gas path.